Konu: The Masterpiece

by Rabia Rahou

  Lop does weird activities with his boyfriend, ones that I even couldn’t read properly. The report says that it’s not only the sexual ones that are troubling, but their activities orbit more towards religious ceremonies invoking control and sacrifice, the crazy ones. This is a huge contrast that qualifies him, without a doubt, to the psychotics and the maniacs hall of fame.

  Erwa cultivated an idea of a peculiar magical genius. He made his bracelets by himself and sculpted on them some patterns in circular shapes with different colors. He thinks they enhance his abilities. He feels very connected to his imaginary world through the talismans. They comfort him especially in covering up the shaking left hand. After reading the reports of the two lunatics before, I wasn’t in the mood to see a photo of Erwa’s dog, mutilated and hanged upside down with missing parts. I didn’t want to read anymore and screw up this beautiful morning.

  The report concluded that the three of them have very big egos and a desperate need to be in the center of attention. Both Erwa and Ub lack the physical qualities and the communicative acumen to conduct any relation with their peers, an extreme psychological limitation considering the top positions they have. The psychologists concluded that they needed to be watched closely as their conditions could worsen quickly.

  Konu closed the report and said with irony, “Wow! I'm sure they will conquer the world with those imbeciles. Anyway, what were the football scores in yesterday’s games?”

  I replied, “High Castle’s team won by three yesterday. But to be honest, the game was very poor.”

  “Since the AI took all bets off the table, no one is watching anymore. Sad, isn’t it?”

  “Yes sir.”

  After a moment I couldn’t resist asking Konu about those “imbeciles,” as he called them.

  “Sir, may I ask a question, if you don’t mind, of course?”

  “About the engineers, I presume,” he replied

  “Absolutely, why is the army is collaborating with them? They are insane.”

  “Dismar, do you think you and I are sane? Do you think a monkey, a cat, a dog, or any biological being is reserved, calm, and rational? No, we are not. The rules are dictated by societies, and if a being thinks he is above those rules… well, no one can predict his behavior. Don’t think that we are normal and they are crazy. By the way, I’m sure if I’d ask the Secret Service to prepare me a report about you, we would find out that you tend to masturbate in bus stops!”

  “Sir, I would say in airport toilets, my favorite.”

  Laughing, he said, “Speaking about airports, we are flying to the league this week, but I guess you guys already prepared the trip, right?”

  “Thank you for reminding me, sir. Yes, the service briefed me already as they made all the necessary arrangements.”

  “I will meet her privately, as you probably guessed. No protocol needed.”

  “I will manage the services for that time, sir,”

  “I know you will.”

  Chapter 6

  The League

  “Even a small and boring job could still elevate you if you let it.”

  ~ The hostess at the Royal Hotel

  “Bullshit…”

  ~ Dismar

  C onou forced me to read a full, 400-page book about The League. It was a firm order, not a gentle suggestion from a friendly employer wishing to elevate his employee to his full potential and his best. It was a bizarre request that goes along with the same lineup of weird orders he gives me from time to time:

  “Read this book. That’s an order.”

  “I want you to collect the weathers reports on that island in nowhere. That’s an order”

  “Find out the exact number of all the active humbots around your place from midnight to 4 a.m. That’s an order.”

  Or the most unusual one,

  “Find a Black Unit ex-soldier who gave up his life to ManFirst. Don’t use the Secret Service’s database. That’s an order.”

  For what? And even after weeks of hard work, when I did find a guy, Konu said that he never asked me about that!

  But I need to keep my stupid job of driving his car to and from his house. It keeps me sane. I don’t want to stay alone without an urge to wake up in the morning. I could easily lose it, knowing that a high percentage of ex-Black Unit soldiers give up their sanity after their service. So, I tried to make the AI read that book for me, in a gentle and sexy voice so I could keep focus. You never know – maybe he will ask for a report on it this time.

  The book says that Egap was a small continent in the north, completely isolated from the world until it was discovered by a Rotanios expedition around the sixth century. The expedition was personally sponsored by the emperor. Back then, the courts used to meet periodically to try to outdo and impress each other with reports of their world conquests and discoveries. The Rotanios’ court used to be humiliated all the time since it was the Bamos that made most of the world’s new discoveries. They had a more advanced understanding of the sea. Of course, the world was still big back then.

  The Rotanios’ expedition used the best boats and navigators available at that time. The Rotanios’ emperor needed an impressive discovery for the sake of the Empire; therefore he ordered them to not come back empty-handed. Since they had nothing to lose, they sailed north to the high North Sea. Rarely did a boat venture there, and that is still true even today. The sea there is rough and savage. They made it, got lucky, and stumbled on a whole new continent. The expedition returned back to the Empire with something different this time – reports of a vast land, bizarre creatures, and completely unusual flora. More than that, in the local tribes, the female population was present in a much higher ratio than men.

  The scientists clashed with the charlatans of the court, who argued that the flora had a significant impact on the early population in the newly discovered land, which they named “Egap.”

  I missed hearing the sexy AI telling me about the origins of the name when my newly married neighbors started a fight over ketchup. The husband had evidently finished the bottle without informing his soulmate wife, and she blamed him for being selfish. Then a big fight erupted with a couple of broken plates and the most entertaining insults! I thank God I’m a divorcee.

  The court’s charlatans speculated that some kinds of Egap fruits can change a man to a woman. Of course, that speculation was based on no evidence. It was a fantastic idea to please the Emperor who wanted to ban any import of goods to the Empire from Egap. Then, the scientists came up with a weather-related theory, claiming that the harsh cold had a direct impact on the gender ratio of Egap population because women’s resistance to cold is better than men. Of course, this theory was struck down by the courts because back then, women were considered to be inferior to men, and sometimes, not even human at all. The scientists ceased investigating the subject because they couldn’t overcome the charlatans. They were bound by the facts and tended to give complex and vague explanations, laced with “maybes” or “it could be…” also dipped their theories in the complexity sauce that could be understood only by their peers. On the contrary, the charlatans were not bound by facts and the scientific method. They could use simple, confident language to give a definitive explanation to any phenomena.

  That’s why the charlatans beat the scientists by a big score, as their explanations were so simple, so exact. They could present and sell any grotesque idea with their charismatic character that makes you feel that they are in control of the situation and that they are true experts in the field. They could give a definitive explanation to any discovery without leaving any doubt, and most importantly, without losing the average person. Unfortunately, the scientists lacked the coherence and the methodical way of selling their explanation of any phenomena. They presented the facts, naked, and then an explanation which might be derived from many theories. Their problem was a “we think” this is the right explanation, “but” we are not sure as our theory is “not certain” although there is “a small probabili
ty” that we are wrong, due to the fact that some elements are still “unknown.” That’s why we have the flat-Earth believers, the UFO enthusiasts, and of course, the gods- worshipers. It’s in part because the scientists simply failed in their primary duty – explaining natural phenomena in a simple and understandable way, but also with charisma and certainty.

  In the end, what is the use of science if people don’t believe in it? The belief should follow the scientific facts as closely as possible, and any discovery must be adopted by the people. Otherwise, if the belief is way behind the scientific discovery, it will not be used, just like as it is with many vaccines. Moreover, some scientists are much immersed in their own world, discovering new particles in quantum physics that may lead us to rewrite physics itself and open for us the doors of “magic” that would enable us to travel instantaneously between locations. But is the population ready for that? I highly doubt it. They are still in the dark ages, waiting for an answer to the total eclipse, which, as yet, no scientist has been able to clearly explain why the ratio of the size of the Moon and distance to the Sun is almost equal. Even if the answer is strictly attributed to the randomness of our universe and that our golden ticket is not the only one and probably even weirder, cosmic phenomena are out there waiting to blow our minds.

  Even that shouldn’t stop the scientists from publishing a firm, simple, and specific explanation to the average person, who is still relying on charlatans for the eclipse explanation. For the scientific mumbo-jumbo explaining an interdimensional portal, I am sure that people will disregard it as a lie. Some even will burn it to the ground just like they did to the 5G broadcasting towers. Because the rest of us are left behind in our primitive world, without clear explanations for anything.

  Science needs believers, just like any religion. The scientists need to get down in the mud to convert people. They need to debate with the charlatans and the priests and every cult leader, not by shaming or ridiculing them and their followers, but by truly winning the argument in a convincing way. That is even harder than to create an interdimensional portal but necessary for science to survive. That said, and in the long run, since life itself is a cycle, we could easily see the Dark Ages of Ignorance come back again. The charlatans will win if the scientists continue to elevate themselves from the belief in their high and lonely towers. They will then continue to be isolated, then hated, then persecuted. This will undoubtedly be the case if none of them are willing to go down to the marketplace to meet people and prove that tomatoes are beneficial for the body by eating them in front of the ignorant. Convincing everyone that the fruit is good for them, as one courageous scientist did once in the Dark Ages, debating the local charlatan and priest and winning the argument, and then going back to the lab to make another discovery is admirable. My neighbors should worship that scientist by the way, as because of him, ketchup exists. If this is not done, then the Big Filter will come forcing us all through an apocalyptic war led by the charlatans and every dumb religious leader, with machetes slaughtering the scientists as witches. And when that happens, for sure, I’ll pick the charlatans side, knowing that the scientists team will be debating the best ways to organize the troops. It did happen in the past, and it can happen again. I hate myself for idolizing Konu and his depressing thoughts that I’m copying and imitating like a clown.

  Back to The League…

  As reported in the book, the founder was a mediocre scientist, but a simplistic and charismatic one. He was from a family of religious leaders close to the court, but opposed to the tradition of keeping up and inheriting the title of his shamanic ancestors, he decided to adopt the science path. Even if he never made even one discovery, he had the perfect combination of skills to succeed with this effort. Probably with premeditation and knowing the cruelty of the Empire towards women, he proposed a theory that historians said saved the Egap’s tribes from enslavement and genocide. In his thesis that he presented to the court with fabricated evidence, he skipped the part about the women versus men ratio and instead focused on the direct threat – the consequences of mixing with the Egap population. In fact, every male visitor to Egap must not be allowed to be around Egap women, and sex should be strictly forbidden and severely punished if it occurred because it’s has a high-risk of a spreading a deadly epidemic disease. He named that highly dangerous malady “Egafoolnesh,” a mental torment and foolishness that surely ends up in suicide. He argued his point by relating tales of the first discoverers who committed suicide on their way back home.

  Of course, they did, but not because of “Egafoolnesh.” It was because the trip was very long, harsh, and uncertain, and most men did not have the guts to make it. It was especially distressing when the conditions were hopeless, and many sailors had nothing back home waiting for them.

  The Rotanios emperor loved the idea, knowing that his empire was on the decline, and his army couldn’t patrol Egap regularly. Also, by adopting this idea, no settlers from another empire would risk contracting Egafoulnesh, as the rumors of suicides now became a scientific fact. The emperor declared it was a forbidden land for his and any other empire as he had the upper hand by discovering it. Still the other empires continued secretly sending scientists to Egap, and later on, more scientists started to settle there. Therefore, contrary to the other populations in the newly discovered worlds, Egap tribes weren’t slaughtered or enslaved. They benefited from the presence of the scientists, as they installed schools to interact with the population and learn and teach languages so they could better study them. Although some historians argued that the main goal was clearly a cultural influence to prepare the field later for the inevitable negotiations between the three empires to divide the continent.

  After a while, and at the end of the reign of the Emperor of the Rotanios, the trusted scientists of the court convinced him that Egafoolnesh ceased to exist. They proposed that in the past, for some reason, it did, but it seems now that the pandemic is over. Based on that, the Emperor convinced some oligarchs to settle in and to invest in the long term as Egafoolnesh had been eradicated.

  Egap ended up divided, of course, between the three empires. The Rotanios took the lion’s share, the Bamos took the northwest, and the old empire of the Ikamon took the southeast. After the Big War, the Ikamon Empire ended up destroyed and vanished. The Rotanios and the Bamos weakened each other, while the Amians emerged and Egaps claimed their independence. Three Egap nations emerged in the north, the middle, and the south. Knowing they had everything in common, they created the League of the Three Nations. After that, and within the same generation, they decided to merge and unite their nations to become one as they shared the same language and traditions. Even if the old empires tried desperately to divide them, the bonds and the uniqueness of the tribes were too strong and too obvious to deny. They kept the name of “The League” to remember how divided and weak they used to be.

  The population was still 85-percent women; that didn't change much. Later, some theories appeared that gave only a few explanations, as the whole subject is still a mystery. The big “why nature favors women” on that continent was still a subject of debate, but scientists agreed that the main triggers could be a combination of the special weather with the very unique flora. As Konu said ironically, “Just like the old charlatans said.”

  He did mention this book on our trip to The League. He told me, “Dismar, a curious man like you will have to wait centuries, perhaps eternities, to see any scientist nowadays willing to venture into The League’s wildness again, like the old masters did centuries ago. They could use our new technology to live there, study the species properly, and explain to the world the real reasons for the unnatural balance. From there, maybe everything would connect. Maybe through understanding The League’s nature, everything would click to produce a “big theory of life.” The theory that will enlighten us and make us understand ourselves and how to live happily, content, and in equilibrium, like the gods, where life will finally cease to be only suffering. B
ut no, this will never happen in this world, as the scientists close themselves in small dark rooms, watching their AI on small screens 18 hours a day. They dream about codes that can create consciousness to replace us, or let’s say to retire us. So, we could close ourselves in miserable dark rooms just like them, watching TV and playing games while eating a free sandwich.”

  He continued his diatribe about the league, and I was forced to listen. He said that in the book, some hidden facts hadn’t been discovered by the author, who was a simple historian trying to assemble all the parts from only academic sources.

  Konu was on a very strong THC dose that he was buying from a special AI alchemist’s start-up, arguing that it doesn’t work for him, but he could talk for hours under the drops’ effects. The final masterpiece of the AI, in my opinion, is that it gives you a mix of the perfect delusion that makes you think that you are not part of it.

  “Oh, before I forget, write or record your memoirs in case we will not make it out alive this time. But also as a therapy for your mind, since when you project your thoughts on a physical medium, it does filter the extra stress, suffering, and sometimes madness, that are wrapped around the beautiful ideas. Those wraps are only the result of the mind and do not exist in the real world. Therefore, you will not find them in the medium.

  “That’s an order.” …of course.

  He kept talking about The League, as he explained to me that The League’s political and economic systems were unique. Each district votes on a representative. The elected person, instead of governing its own district, (he or she, but mainly a she, of course), governs another district on a rotating basis. By doing that, the population of the first district, in a way, can say that we gave you the best of us. And by that unusual system also, regionalism and nationalism are almost non-existent. The League’s governance system is a marvel. There are 11 districts supervised by 11 representatives. Their high dedication and sincerity in serving have never been seen in any other nation before.